Champions League round of 16: Chelsea 1-2 PSG (2-4 on aggregate)
If anyone has more doubt on the quality of the French champions, now you have your answer… Paris Saint Germain showed great qualities and despite the pressure was able to pull out a huge performance and a big upset for the Blues who only counted on the Champions League to save a poor 2015-16 campaign otherwise. As far Zlatan Ibrahimovic, he is just like wine as he’s gone better with age scoring one goal and giving the assist on the first goal.
Chelsea had their chances to tie this one up at 2-1 but fell short. PSG is a serious contender for the Champions League, today they showed they are superior to a great team in Europe and who the UCL not too long ago.
PSG coach Laurent Blanc reacts:
“There are a lot of things to take from this match. We showed great control, we played our game and we took our chances. It was a big challenge. I thought it would be tougher than last season. We have qualified here two years in a row and that means we’re on the right track. We can always do better. But we played Chelsea and we wore them down. We are very happy because expectation was high.”
PSG forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic:
“We played very well, despite the pressure. We controlled the ball well and scored two goals when we found the space. By beating the best, we are showing that we are a big club. We will keep working hard to continue our European adventure.”
PSG defender Thiago Silva:
“We struggled a little in the first half, but we turned things around in the second half, which is very positive. I think we played better at the Parc, where we could have won by more. Tonight, we conceded another avoidable goal, we are only going to enjoy this qualification. If we continue like this, I think we can go a lot further in this competition than last season.”
Chelsea coach Guus Hiddink;
“I am disappointed. When you analyse the game we started too respectfully in the first 10 or 15 minutes, but they are a team who know the short possession game very well and you must be careful not to be outplayed in the first part of the match.
We were too respectful but later on, at 1-0 down, we lost that wrong respect and we tried to defend more forcefully, we won duels and we got a deserved equaliser.
There were chances both ways after that in the first half. In the second half we pushed, we tried to make it 2-1. We had chances to score in the 65th minute, we didn’t do so and in the 67thminute with a little attack they killed the game.
In my opinion, Chelsea are now in a transitional period from where they have to see how to go on, and to try to regain the lost terrain where Chelsea used to be. That’s true.
‘It’s difficult to get in to fourth position, there is a very big gap. Chelsea must consider its short-term future on how to handle this, but they knew that beforehand.’
